Warriors think they have a healthy Andrew Bogut this season

Last season, Andrew Bogut missed 50 games. The season before that 54. The season before that 17. It’s been a long time since we’ve really seen a healthy Bogut for an extended period.

But we also saw in the playoffs last season what a healthy Bogut means to Golden State — he is their defensive anchor inside, he averaged 7.2 points a game shooting 58 percent, while pulling down 10.9 rebounds a game. His passing skills are a great fit with shooters like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

The Warriors with the addition of Andre Iguodala are a playoff lock in the West, but how far they can go will depend on a healthy Bogut and his presence in the paint. The team thinks he’s healthy and are treating him as such, GM Bob Meyer told the Sporting News.

“I think the initial thought is he is healthy, and play him as much as you want,” general manager Bob Myers told Sporting News. “If something obviously were to develop, something unforeseen, you have to react to it. At this point, you treat him like he is 100 percent healthy, that is what he is saying, that is what the medical staff is saying, so, you don’t treat him any other way. Maybe the question is, do you want to play him 35 minutes? But that is a question for any center. It is not due to anything with his injury. We’re approaching it like he is healthy.”

Golden State is clearly going to try and keep Bogut’s minutes down, something you can tell just by looking at the roster. There is Festus Ezeli, Jermaine O’Neal and Marreese Speights all who can take on minutes at the five and keep Bogut down in the 28 minutes a night range. Which would be about the top end of where I’d want him.

If Bogut is healthy he will upgrade the Warriors pedestrian defense from last season. Do that with Andre Iguodala on the wing helping the perimeter defense, and if this all melds together on the offensive end the Warriors are a very dangerous team come playoff time.